THE CHRISTIAN ON THE EVE OF AN ELECTION
WHO’S ON THE THRONE?
The book of Daniel is often seen as the Bible book that tells us all about the future. It really tells us how we should act in the present. It is a book that tells God’s people how they ought to behave while living in a place that is not their home and who are facing political and social turmoil. Daniel and his friends were taken from the pleasant precincts of Jerusalem and thrust into bustling idolatrous city of Babylon. There was continuous pressure put on these Jewish lads to conform to that culture. They were asked to eat foods that would violate God’s law. They faced great social and political pressures. Yet despite this, the boys did not panic. How could this be? After all, a wicked king named Nebuchadnezzar was at that time on the throne. Yet Daniel and friends saw beyond his rule and looked to the true King who ruled over the entire universe, Yahweh, the God of the Jews. This fact alone enabled them to endure a fiery furnace, to speak boldly to the king without fear and to continue to pray to their God even in the face of great persecution. Daniel and his friends knew what every Christian should know when faced with frightening social and political events. What did they know? “(God) changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings” (2:21). Why should Daniel worry about Nebuchadnezzar when he was on good terms with the King over the universe who is in control of all other kingdoms? When we look at the lives of Daniel and his friends, it should gently reprove those of us who might be fretting on the eve of an election. Daniel should teach us where to look when we begin to fret, not to polls, not to potential unrest, not to voter fraud, not to the potential shattering of our democracy. The need of the hour is to look beyond the American Empire to that righteous, eternal kingdom made without hands whose Builder and Maker is God. That this kingdom will usurp all others is a central theme in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. He sees an image which is made of up four sections, each denoting an earthly kingdom. In a sense the dream summarizes all of history. The head of the image is gold, the chest and arms are silver, the belly and thighs are bronze and the legs are iron with feet that are partly iron and partly clay. The gold was Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian empire. It seemed as indestructible as gold itself. The silver was the empire of the Medes and Persians, a lesser kingdom, which would soon conquer Babylon. The bronze was the Hellenistic empire of Alexander, and the iron was, of course, Rome. Though this last kingdom was as strong as iron it had feet of clay which foretold its eventual collapse. The message was clear; every human empire eventually rots from within and collapses. But the king’s dream doesn’t end there. During the time of the iron kingdom, a fifth kingdom would emerge, represented as a stone made without hands. And this stone would strike the image and the entire idol would totter and fall to the ground (2:31-35). Of course we know that this kingdom is the kingdom built by God Himself. And because it is God’s kingdom it shall never fall. Oh yes, depend on it; every kingdom built by man will be crushed. But those who belong to God’s eternal kingdom shall never be crushed. Daniel and his friends knew this.
Like Daniel Christians are living in perilous times. So what shall we do? Fret and wring our hands and cry? Or should we freely acknowledge we are not part of this “Babylon” but citizens of a better country, a kingdom beyond the river, the eternal New Jerusalem. And when we get there we shall forever have a King who will be infinitely more pure than any president and more powerful than any political party. So Christian, on the eve of this election, look to that kingdom that shall never end, and whose King is that of Lamb of God who died once and rose again and who shall die - or be conquered- no more.